The several faces of violence against women in the writing of Elvira Vigna

Abstract

Although the Latin American literary canon is largely dominated by male voices, literary criticism has highlighted the emergence of writing by women in the twenty-first century. Within this body of work, themes such as motherhood, ancestry, sexuality, and gender-based violence come to the fore. Thus, this article aims to examine the representation of various forms of violence against women in Elvira Vigna’s Nada a dizer (2010) and Como se estivéssemos em palimpsesto de putas (2016). Informed by feminist criticism, the analysis draws on theoretical frameworks regarding gender-based violence – specifically the work of Rita Segato, Heleieth Safiotti, Marcela Lagarde y de los Ríos, and Michelle Perrot – and the concept of symbolic violence as defined by Pierre Bourdieu. In conclusion, the article considers how, within a patriarchal society, violence against women is closely linked to the maintenance and perpetuation of male power.

Submission: Jul 21, 2026 ⊶ Accepted: Sep 27, 2026